Batter Up!

Sorry for the delay in posting. I've been extremely busy since Wednesday (more on that in future posts).

Last Wednesday was Boo Jr's first t-ball practice. He missed the very first practice the week prior because he was getting over a nasty cold, and it was only 45F and cloudy out that day. Some of you from Yada know that I'm volunteering to help out "Coach", so I had to get a criminal background check a couple years ago. Pretty neat that the fingerprint scanner was electronic and not done with ink. I hid all the bodies well so I don't think that should be a problem ;^)

I was pretty nervous heading to practice. Boo Jr was a late walker (almost 2 years old) and isn't as coordinated as most other kids his age. I wasn't sure what field we were at since all the fields were already occupied. Turned out those players were part of the first shift of practices. Coach arrived promptly at 6:30 and got practice underway. There are about 16 players on our team. About half of the team was sent out into the outfield with some of the other assistant coaches to practice fielding ground balls and throwing. Boo Jr and I were part of the group that stayed in the infield. Coach would rotate kids between the two groups. The children took turns hitting several balls off the tee, while the rest of the kids in the infield "fielded" the ball and threw it to first base. This is Boo Jr's first experience with an organized sport. We stood approximately where the 2nd basemen would play. Several balls would come our way, but often times, one of the other kids would intercept the ball in front of him. Boo Jr got upset about this. I tried to explain that these are his teammates and he needed to go after the ball too. One of the other kids nearby sensed that my son was upset and would give him the ball to throw to first. Boo Jr did field several balls and threw them to 1st base. I had to keep reminding him to throw the ball to first because he was so proud that he fielded the ball.

It was a bit of a challenge to keep Boo Jr focused. He would sometimes get distracted kicking the dirt infield or goofing around with the other kids. One time he got hit by a hard ground ball in the shin. He cried a little bit, but quickly calmed down. It's a good thing there are so many volunteers (about 6 of us plus Coach) because otherwise the kids would quickly get out of hand.

Boo Jr did alright when it was his turn at bat towards the end of practice. He tends to be really careful and swings slowly to make sure he hits the ball. On the last hit, Coach has the kids run to 1st base. Boo Jr didn't understand this concept so Coach had to grab his hand and run with him to 1st base. Coach does a great job with the kids.

At the end of practice, Coach would yell, "Go!", and each kid would run to 1st base. After that, they practiced running around all of the bases. Boo Jr loved that. It was getting past 7:30 by that time and was getting kind of dark. Boo Jr was upset when we left because he was having so much fun. He was kind of dirty and sweaty so we took a bath when we got home. You can tell he was tired (he had preschool earlier), and he was quite cranky. Normally, Boo Jr's in bed at 8:00 but we didn't get to bed until closer to 9:00.

I'm happy that Boo Jr enjoyed practice so much. He still doesn't seem to understand the rules or "purpose" of the game, but that's alright. He'll get that soon enough.